In honor of the 50th anniversary of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s visionary letter Humanae Vitae, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver has issued a pastoral letter The Splendor of Love. Archbishop Aquila states that Blessed Paul VI “prophetically defended the integrity of married love and warned us against the danger of reducing sexuality to a source of pleasure alone” (SL, 1).

Archbishop Aquila states that his purpose in writing the pastoral letter is “to affirm the great beauty of the Church’s consistent teaching through the centuries on married love, a love that is so desperately needed today” (SL, 5). He goes on to say:

The family is the foundation of society, and when it is undermined, society itself is threatened with collapse. Therefore, it is crucial to reaffirm our commitment to the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christ’s teaching on marriage and sexuality.SL, 6

In the 50 years since Humanae Vitae was published, the Church has consistently proclaimed to the world “the good news that human love finds its ultimate meaning and splendor in God’s own particular love for every human being” (SL, 7). Pope Saint John Paul II’s epic work Theology of the Body showed us that man only comes to know himself through a sincere and complete gift of self for the good of another:

The human body includes right from the beginning…the capacity of expressing love, that love in which the person becomes a gift – and by means of this gift – fulfills the meaning of his being and existence.[1]SL, 8

Pope Benedict XVI taught that the love of a husband and wife in a life-long, monogamous, and fruitful marriage teaches us something of God’s own love:

Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage. Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love becomes the icon of the relationship between God and his people and vice versa. God’s way of loving becomes the measure of human love.[2]SL, 9

Pope Francis has underscored the social nature of the family as a powerful force in encountering and shaping society. “Families should not see themselves as a refuge from society, but instead go forth from their homes in a spirit of solidarity with others”[3] (SL, 10).

Archbishop Aquila goes on to expound on the negative developments of the prevalent use of contraception during the last 50 years as prophetically spoken by Blessed Paul VI in Humanae Vitae:

Objectification of women for the sexual satisfaction of men

Increased number of divorces, abortions, and out-of-wedlock pregnancies

Proliferation of pornography and sex trafficking

Government imposition of contraception nationally and throughout the world (SL, 12)

“Rejecting the true nature of the sexual act has not led to increased happiness and fulfillment,” says Archbishop Aquila, “but to a distortion of the relationship between men and women” (SL, 13). Additionally, further degradation of society has occurred beyond the prophetic vision of Blessed Paul VI:

A sharp rise in Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)

Birthrates falling below replacement levels

Decline in people getting married

Chemical abortifacients in the water supply causing a rise in infertility, increased cancer risk, and hormonal changes in children (SL, 14)

Archbishop Aquila says with all these negative developments, the “greatest tragedy today facing the family may be the unwillingness of many to enter married love and to experience the joys of family life” and that “marriage has become a means of personal fulfillment that lasts only if it pleases both parties” (SL, 15). With sex and marriage being trivialized, marriage has “changed from a gift and source of life in the family to a means of pleasure and self-satisfaction” (SL, 15), leading to the redefinition of marriage itself.

Archbishop Aquila says that only in “accepting God’s plan [for human sexuality and marriage], in our deepest identity, opens to us a path to true happiness and fulfillment” (SL, 17) and that Christians must “give joyful witness in the face of these new trials, knowing that only the love and truth of Christ can adequately respond to the lies and brokenness of our culture” (SL, 18).

Next week, we will continue looking into Archbishop Aquila’s pastoral letter by delving into the goodness of sexuality and how couples can proclaim the splendor of God’s love in their marriages and families.

]]>https://callingcouplestochrist.org/2018/02/11/marriage-radiating-the-love-of-christ-to-the-world/feed/0denniswingfieldAquila QuoteHow to Live Out the Four Goods in Your Marriagehttps://callingcouplestochrist.org/2018/02/04/how-to-live-out-the-four-goods-in-your-marriage/
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Last week we learned about the four goods of marriage and how they are woven into the very fabric of the vows that are part of the Marriage Rite of the Catholic Church. The wedding vows speak of: partnership, permanence, fidelity, and fruitfulness.

This week, we will show you how to live out the four goods in your marriage.

In marriage there are two people wounded by Original Sin with a natural bent to selfishness, who join their lives together for life. There will be struggles, hardships, disagreements, strife, and heartache. But the good news is that Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin and give us the grace we need to live out the four goods of marriage.

Partnership

Trust is key to having a marriage that will last through both good times and bad. Without trust, a husband and wife will not feel secure in revealing their innermost feelings, thoughts, and desires. Equally important is placing God at the center of your marriage. If God is not at the center of a marriage, selfishness will become the god of one or both of the spouses. This is a recipe for disaster. Both spouses – in partnership – must be willing to put the needs of their beloved before their own in order to build a strong foundation for a life-long marriage. This is self-sacrificial love; the love Christ has modeled for us on the cross.

More than 50 years ago, it was common for the Priest to proclaim an “Exhortation before Marriage” to the couple before the recitation of their wedding vows. Our favorite line from the Exhortation speaks of the importance of self-sacrificial love:

Sacrifice is usually difficult and irksome. Only love can make it easy, and perfect love can make it a joy.

Permanence

Just as God has been merciful to us, we must be ready at all times to be merciful to our spouses. Both husband and wife are sinful persons. They will make mistakes and hurt each other. It takes tremendous grace to be able to forgive a wrong when you have been hurt. This grace comes from having Christ at the center of your relationship and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist.

Permanence in marriage requires natural faith in your spouse. It is the belief that whatever problems you face can be overcome. It is living with radical confidence that God will give you the grace to carry the cross, to love at all times without counting the cost.

It is critical for children to know that their mother and father love each other, that they are loved, and that they are secure in a stable home. Peace in the home paves the way for children to flourish, grow, and understand the love of God through the love their parents show for each other.

Fidelity

Friendship is at the core of fidelity or faithfulness. Friendship is the capacity to reveal ourselves, or to be intimate with another. Intimacy is the key to preventing adultery. Intimacy is not just sexual. It is being open and vulnerable, being willing to share from your heart. It is the capacity to share with your beloved what is going on in your life, the successes and failures, the struggles and temptations, the joys and the sorrows. If you are not meeting your spouse’s need for emotional connection, they may be tempted to find someone who will.

In the initial stages of your relationship, you revealed everything about yourself to each other. This pattern should continue once you are married.

Fruitfulness

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring… (CCC, 1601)

Children are a gift from God. The Catechism further says, “The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator’s generosity and fecundity: ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh’” (CCC, 2335). Husband and wife in the conjugal act are co-creators of new life with God. To be open to children demands fearlessness and a radical trust in each other and in God.

Partnership, permanence, fidelity, and fruitfulness: The Four Goods of Marriage. We have looked at the keys to living out these goods in your marriage. We pray that your family will thrive through the grace of God given to you through the Sacrament of Marriage. God bless you as you grow in faith, hope, and love.

The family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and receive love…The family is an intermediate institution between individuals and society, and nothing can completely take its place…The family is a necessary good for peoples, an indispensable foundation for society, and a great and lifelong treasure for couples. It is a unique good for children, who are meant to be the fruit of the love, of the total and generous self-giving of their parents…The family is also a school that enables men and women to grow to the full measure of their humanity…O God, who in the Holy Family left us a perfect model of family life lived in faith and obedience to your will, help us to be examples of faith and love for your commandments. Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, August 29, 2012

If we asked, “What are the four goods of marriage?” would you know the answer? Did you learn about them in your marriage preparation? Have you ever heard a homily on the topic? If you are curious to know what the Church teaches on the goods of marriage, please read on.

God is the author of all creation and of marriage

Before we describe the goods of marriage, let’s take a look at marriage as God created it. There are two creation accounts in Holy Scripture, Genesis 1 and 2. In the second of these, when Adam was alone in the Garden of Eden, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen 2:18 emphasis added). God then created all the living creatures in the air, on the earth, and in the sea and gave them to Adam “but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him” (Gen 2:20). The story continues…

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:21-24

In Genesis 1, God creates for five days, proclaiming at the end of each day, “It is good.” On the sixth day, God created man and woman, giving them to each other in marriage. “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31 emphasis added).

In all of creation, God calls man and woman united in Holy Matrimony, “very good!” Marriage is elevated to such a high level that God uses husband and wife united in marriage as an image of Christ’s love for His bride, the Church (see Eph 5:25-32). The love of husband and wife in marriage is also an image of the Holy Trinity, where the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father produces a third Person, the Holy Spirit. In the conjugal embrace, the love of husband and wife shares in the creative power of God by producing another person.

Goods of marriage reflect God’s plan for marriage

So, what are the four goods of marriage? They are woven into the very vows of the Marriage Rite of the Catholic Church when the bride and groom are asked these questions:

“Have you come here freely and without reservation…”

“…to give yourself to each other in marriage?”

“Will you love and honor each other as man and wife for the rest of you lives?”

“Will you accept children lovingly from God?”

These questions address the four goods of marriage: partnership, permanence, fidelity, and fruitfulness. Saint Augustine was the first to formulate the goods of marriage in De bono coniugali (AD 401). These were further developed by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his classical work Summa Theologiae (Supplementum, Q. 49), written between 1265 and1274. Pope Pius XI further refined them in his encyclical Casti connubii (1930). They are summarized in the The Goods and Requirements of Conjugal Love, the foundation of the Church’s teaching on marital unity (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1643 – 1654).

Permanence — This is the key to a successful marriage. Husband and wife commit to stay in their relationship no matter what.

Partnership — Husband and wife make a sincere gift of self to each other in marriage, mind, body, and spirit. Scripture says that they are to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21).

Fidelity — Husband and wife promise to be faithful to each other every day of their lives.

Fruitfulness — The marriage covenant is fundamentally ordered to procreation and the education of children in the faith.

Next week, we will discuss how to live out the four goods in your marriage.

Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “The family that prays together stays together.” Did you know the phrase was coined in the 1940s by Father Patrick Peyton a Catholic media pioneer? Known as “The Rosary Priest,” Father Peyton used radio, television, and billboards to promote family prayer, especially praying the Holy Rosary.

Father Peyton founded Holy Cross Family Ministries, and produced more than 600 radio and television programs and 10,000 broadcasts. He also conducted rosary crusades for millions of people around the world. On December 18, 2017, Pope Francis approved a decree recognizing Father Peyton’s heroic virtues. You can read more of his life at the Congregation of the Holy Cross website.

Many years before Father Peyton’s Rosary crusades, the Blessed Virgin Mary herself stressed the importance and power of praying the Rosary when she appeared to the children at Fatima, Portugal.

The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families… that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. Servant of God Sister Maria Lucia

Recitation of the Holy Rosary leads us into the great mysteries of God’s plan for our salvation through the birth, passion, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. The words of the “Hail Mary” recall the Archangel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary at the Annunciation and Elizabeth’s words as the child leapt in her womb at Mary’s visitation. Mary is the first disciple of Jesus. She cannot contain her joy and immediately shares it with her relative Elizabeth, the first act of evangelization in Holy Scripture.

In more recent times, St. John Paul the Great assured the faithful of the abundant graces available through praying the Rosary:

With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of His love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, §1

The more we contemplate the face of Christ in the Rosary, the more we will reflect His love to a world that yearns for unconditional acceptance and love. Be the light of Christ in the world. Teach your children to pray the Rosary. Say the Rosary daily as a family. It will change you and your home. May your family be blessed and be a blessing to other families so in need of God’s mercy and love.

Family Prayer

O dear Jesus, we humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family. May our home be the shrine of peace, purity, love, labor and faith. We beg You, dear Jesus, to protect and bless all of us, absent and present, living and dead.

O Mary, loving Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, pray to Jesus for our family, for all the families of the world, to guard the cradle of the newborn, the schools of the young and their vocations.

Blessed Saint Joseph, holy guardian of Jesus and Mary, assist us by your prayers in all the necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which He granted to you, to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and the dying, so that with Mary and with you, heaven may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20

The following is a meditation by St. Teresa of Calcutta on the above passage from the book of Revelation. May you encounter the living God, come down from heaven, Jesus Christ, in her words. He is the lover of your soul.

It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be Me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the least whispered invitation that will allow Me to enter.

And I want you to know that whenever you invite Me, I do come – always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but with infinite power and love, and bringing the many gifts of My Spirit. I come with My mercy, with My desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your comprehension – a love every bit as great as the love I have received from the Father; ‘As much as the Father has loved Me, I have loved you…’ (Jn 15:10).

I come – longing to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and bind all your wounds. I bring you my light, to dispel your darkness and all your doubts. I come with My power, that I might carry you and all your burdens; with My grace, to touch your heart and transform your life; and My peace I give to still your soul.

I know you through and through. I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you – even in your wanderings. I know every one of your problems. I know your needs and your worries. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you – not for what you have or haven’t done – I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed My Blood to win you back.

If you only ask Me with faith, My grace will touch all that needs changing in your life, and I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power. I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share My strength and victory.

I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? ‘Come to Me all you who thirst… (Jn 7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine – to the point of dying on the cross for you.

I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe My love for you. I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to Me. I THIRST FOR YOU. Come to me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation, and give you peace, even in all your trials. I THIRST FOR YOU.

You must never doubt My mercy, My acceptance of you, My desire to forgive, My longing to bless you and live My life in you. I THIRST FOR YOU. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one more important in the entire world than you. I THIRST FOR YOU. Open to Me, come to Me, thirst for Me, give Me your life – and I will prove to you how important you are to my heart.

Don’t you realize that My Father already has a perfect plan to transform your life, beginning from this moment? Trust in Me. Ask Me every day to enter and take charge of your life – and I will. I promise you before My Father in heaven that I will work miracles in your life. Why would I do this? Because I THIRST FOR YOU. All I ask of you is that you entrust yourself to Me completely. I will do all the rest. Even now I behold the place My Father has prepared for you in My Kingdom. Remember that you are a pilgrim in this life, on a journey home.

Sin can never satisfy you, or bring the peace you seek. All that you have sought outside of Me has only left you more empty, so do not cling to the things of this life. Above all, do not run from Me when you fall. Come to Me without delay. When you give Me your sins, you give Me the joy of being your Savior.

There is nothing I cannot forgive or heal’ so come now, and unburden your soul. No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life; there is one thing I want you to always remember, one thing that will never change. I THIRST FOR YOU – just as you are.

You don’t need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you. You forget Me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day – standing at the door of your heart and knocking. Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the Cross, look at My heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood my Cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there – for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: ‘I THIRST…’ (Jn 19:28). Yes, I thirst for you – as the rest of the psalm verse I was praying says of Me: ‘I looked for someone to console me and I found none…’ (Ps 69:21). All your life I have been looking for your love – I have never stopped seeking to love you and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to Me, right now, more than you have ever done before.

Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit: ‘No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake. Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to me, for I THIRST FOR YOU…[1]

We pray that this “Love Letter from Jesus” blesses you this day. May you begin to see the incredible worth you have in the eyes of the Savior. May you feel His warm embrace and unlimited love for you. May your heart long for Him as He longs for you. St. Augustine says that our hearts are restless until they rest in Jesus. Let Him come into your heart and fill you to overflowing with His love. Put Jesus at the center of your life and your marriage. Only Jesus can satisfy your deepest thirst with His living water.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42:1-2

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”…and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11 (emphasis added)

“The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 528). The joy of the Magi upon seeing the Child is the joy of the Gospel. It is “the joy of one whose heart has received a ray of God’s light and who can now see that his hope has been realized—the joy of one who has found what he sought, and has himself been found” (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, 106). The Magi find “crying in a manger, the one they have followed as he shone in the sky…in swaddling clothes, the one they have long awaited as he lay hidden among the stars” (St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 150).

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Matthew 2:10

At this moment in Scripture, “God gave ‘Joy to the World’–not merely to Israel, but also to the whole world: the nations, the foreigners, the Gentiles” (Scott Hahn, Joy to the World, 111). No one is excluded from God’s generous gift of salvation. The cultural elites of the day, the chief priests and King Herod, missed Christmas. God chose to reveal His Son to foreigners and lowly shepherds because of their humility to seek the truth. The proud and the haughty missed out on the greatest gift the world has ever seen.

“And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled’” Luke 14:23

God wants His house to be filled with every race and nation. He wants no one to be excluded. We are His instruments in proclaiming the Joy of the Gospel, in manifesting Jesus to the world. Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit in his recent pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, lays out the game plan for the transformation of the Archdiocese into a “joyful band of missionary disciples.”

He says that families are “the very heart of our archdiocesan efforts to unleash the Gospel, because they are the first and most important setting in which evangelization takes place.” He exhorts families to “actively seek the spiritual and social renewal of their neighborhoods, schools and places of work…display[ing] a strikingly counter-cultural way of living: grounded in prayer, Sacraments and attention to Scripture; unusually gracious hospitality [and] a capacity to include those on the margins of society.”

He encourages families to: “Create a home where your family models Christ’s love, become aware of your neighbor’s needs and reach out to them with a welcoming spirit so as to share your faith.”

Just as the Holy Family welcomed the lowly shepherds and unbelieving Gentiles into their home to see Jesus, so are we to manifest Christ to the world. Pope Francis echoed this in a recent Tweet, “Go forth and reach out to all people at the margins of society! Go there and be the Church, with the strength of the Holy Spirit” (Twitter, @Pontifex, June 23, 2017). Pope Francis calls us to reach out to the broken, the disfigured, the destitute, and those imprisoned physically or emotionally.

Christian families are beacons of light in their neighborhoods. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “the family home is rightly called ‘the domestic church,’ a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity” (CCC, 1666). If your family is a school of virtue and Christian charity, people will take notice. They will see that your family is different. They will be attracted to what you have. When asked why your family is different, this is your opportunity to have an epiphany; to share the Joy of the Gospel.

Today the Church commemorates the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. In his letter to the Church at Philippi, St. Paul wrote of the supremacy of the name of Jesus Christ: “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9) and “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).

A formal devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus began among Cistercian monks and nuns in the 12th-century. This devotion gained popularity in 15th-century through the preaching of a Franciscan priest, Saint Bernardine of Siena.

Bernardine used devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus as a way of overcoming bitter and often bloody class struggles and family rivalries in Italy during his time. The devotion grew, partly because of Franciscan and Dominican preachers. It spread even more widely after the Jesuits began promoting it in the 16th century. In 1530, Pope Clement V approved an Office of the Holy Name of Jesus for the Franciscans. In 1721, Pope Innocent XIII extended this feast to the entire Church.

Many marriages are in crisis today, struggling with bitterness and resentment between husbands and wives, children and parents. While living under the same roof, these same husbands and wives hunger for emotional attachment to their spouses. Children desire stronger bonds with their parents. Social media and smartphones have stripped families and our society of interpersonal interaction. Husbands, wives, and children hide behind a screen, engaging in a never-ending quest to find significance in Facebook and Instagram likes, and Twitter retweets. Families are famished and starving for love. What can we do to combat this onslaught on the family? Marriages and families work when Jesus Christ is the center.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit issued a pastoral letter on Pentecost 2017 entitled, Unleash the Gospel. In the letter, he offered the following vision for families:

Families who, having embraced their role as the domestic church and in connection with other families and single persons, actively seek the spiritual and social renewal of their neighborhoods, schools and places of work. Such families and individuals would display a strikingly counter-cultural way of living: grounded in prayer, Sacraments and attention to Scripture; unusually gracious hospitality; a capacity to include those on the margins of society; and joyful confidence in the providence of God even in difficult and stressful times. Unleash the Gospel, p. 32

Archbishop Vigneron charged families to reclaim their identity with God through the following action plan (Action Step 1.3 Christian Family Identity, p. 33):

Attending Sunday Mass as a family

Daily scripture reading

Regular family meal times without distractions

Regular family prayer time

Frequent participation is the Sacrament of Reconciliation to heal wounds and brokenness through sacrifice, forgiveness, mercy, and love

Modeling Christ’s love by helping neighbors in need

Parents are the primary witnesses of the faith to their family

We ask that you implement just one of the above recommendations in your family over the next few months. Put Christ at the center of your daily family life. Be a model of the love of Christ in your family, where “the family home is rightly called ‘the domestic church,’ a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1666). Let Christ rule in your hearts and your home and witness the transforming power of the Holy Name of Jesus in bringing more happiness and joy into your home.

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. Through the Incarnation, the Divine Word assumed a human body, entering into every aspect of human life, including family life, sanctifying it and making it a path to holiness.

Teacher and author Scott Hahn says,

The family is the key to Christmas. The family is the key to Christianity…When God came to save us, he made salvation inseparable from family life, manifest in family life. Since the family is the ordinary setting of human life, he came to share it, redeem it and perfect it. He made it an image and sacrament of a divine mystery. Salvation itself finds meaning only in familial relations.[1]

The home of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is a school of prayer where we learn to listen, meditate, and enter into the deepest meanings of the manifestation of the Son of God. We are called to imitate Mary, Joseph and Jesus as our examples of holy living in the context of the family.

Mary and Joseph were the earthly parents of the Christ child. In this role, they are the perfect parenting models. By their example of dedication and obedience to God, they are witnesses to the spirit of love for Christ that guided every aspect of their lives.

When Mary wondered (not doubted) how it could be that she would be with child, the Angel of the Lord told her that the child would be of the Holy Spirit. Mary responded with trust and obedience. Joseph so deeply honored and loved Mary that he was unwilling to subject her to the humiliation of an illegitimate pregnancy. He chose instead to “quietly dismiss” her. When the angel assured Joseph that the baby was of God, he responded with trust and obedience. He spent his life protecting and supporting the Holy Family. Mary and Joseph certainly modeled this faithful behavior throughout their lives. They were humble and their singular purpose in life was to serve God. Husbands and wives today would do well to strive for the honor, love, and devotion that Mary and Joseph had for their family and their wholehearted trust and obedience in God.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another…outdo one another in showing honor. Romans 12:9-10

A concrete way for couples to build each other up in their marriages is to heed of these words of St. Paul, “outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom 12:10). While this may sound difficult, God will give you the grace. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that the grace God pours out on husbands and wives through the sacrament of Matrimony perfects “the couple’s love” while strengthening “their indissoluble unity,” helping one “another to attain holiness in their married life” (CCC, 1641).

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

It is in and through family life that we are made holy. God loves the cheerful giver so give abundantly of your love for the salvation of your spouse and family. May your family give witness to the love of the Holy Family, shining brightly in a culture so in need of examples of the joy of holy and self-sacrificial love.

Our family has a great affinity for Nativity scenes. We collect them, display them and enjoy looking at Nativity scenes from countries around the world. The variety of styles are fascinating and intriguing, yet their message is the same, “a savior has been born…who is Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:11). It has been our custom that the manger remains empty until the dark hours of Christmas Eve. Our family gathers around the manger as Jesus is placed lovingly in the manger with reverence and awe. Traditionally, Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus is then read (Lk 2:1-20) or the birth of Emmanuel (Is 7:10-14), followed by a prayer of blessing such as this:

God of every nation and people,

from the very beginning of creation

you have made manifest your love:

when our need for a Savior was great

you sent your Son to be born of the Virgin Mary.

To our lives he brings joy and peace,

justice, mercy, and love.

Lord, bless all who look upon this manger;

may it remind us of the humble birth of Jesus,

and raise our thoughts to Him,

who is God-with-us and Savior of all,

and who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

As we gaze on the beauty of the Christ Child in the manager, Silent Night plays softly in the background as we ponder God’s love for us and His tender mercy in sending His Son to die as expiation for our sins.

I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. Psalm 34:1-3

When we look upon the empty manger prior to Christmas, our hearts long for the coming of Jesus. We yearn to see Jesus resting peacefully in the manger. We await the coming of Jesus in darkness. It is a period of joyful expectation, waiting for the Savior to shine His light into our lives and our world. Come Lord Jesus, come!

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Psalm 34:6-7

Christmas is a difficult time for many who have suffered losses such as a child turning away from the faith, family strife, divorce, or the death of a loved one. Anxiety and fear can drive out the joy and anticipation of the coming of Christ. God knows your pain. He is with you in the midst of your trials. He seeks to comfort you and give you strength to endure the hardships you face. Turn to the Lord; give Him all of your fears, doubts and worries. He loves you and wants to bless you and give you peace.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:17-18

We are all broken in some way. Our hearts are empty mangers that only Jesus can fill. Do not be like the innkeeper that turned Jesus away. Graciously welcome Jesus into the empty manger of your heart. Let him lay His head upon your chest. He wants to reside in you and give you peace and joy. Come Lord Jesus, come and make a dwelling place in our hearts.

The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. Psalm 34:19, 22

Psalm 34 is for those who struggle during this time of year. Meditate on its promises. Christ came to earth to show you the extent of His love for you, dying for you so that you may gain eternal life. Embrace Him and love Him in return for all that He has done for you. Give your life to Him. Let Jesus be Lord of your life; give Him control; rest in His loving arms as He guides you on the path of righteousness. God has a great plan for you. Trust that He will bring it to completion. Give Him thanks for His great glory. Hallelujah!

Jesus…said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

This painting of the Nativity is one of our favorites because the only light in the scene is radiating from the Christ Child. May the light of Christ shine brightly in your heart and may His blessings be upon you this Christmas.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Isaiah 35:1-2

On this the fourth Sunday of Advent and the Eve of the Nativity of the Lord, our prayer is that you realize the awesome gift God has given you through the birth of His Son. God loved you so much that He did not want sin to separate you from Him. He sent His beloved Son to die in your place so that you could spend eternity with Him. Spend time today contemplating all the Lord has done for you through this gift. May your heart be filled with joy at the coming of the Christ Child!

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. Isaiah 35:3-6a

God is coming through the birth of a child. He will “strengthen the feeble hands” and “steady the knees that give way.” God will comfort “fearful hearts.” Christmas is a difficult time for many. Family strife, death of loved ones, ill health, loss of income, and fractured relationships can cause much sorrow during this season. Others may have family members who are away from the Church, acting in ways which are self-destructive. A time meant for joy and celebration can be devastating for those who experience these emotions. For those who are suffering, we pray that God will touch your heart through the birth of the Christ Child, giving you great peace and joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein. Isaiah 35:6b-8

God can heal the hurting heart. “He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds” (Ps 147:3) says the Psalmist. God can make “water…gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” He can take any trial you are facing and bring new life. Do not lose heart. Look to the coming of the Christ Child as your joy and hope.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10

Jesus “came that [we] may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). We have tremendous reason to rejoice at the coming of the Lord. If you are finding it difficult to rejoice, keep this in mind: God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. He has a special place in His heart for the lame, the afflicted, the poor, the lost, and the downcast. God will rescue you and your loved ones too. He will give you His everlasting joy. May God bless you and your family this Christmas in ways that you have never experienced before!

Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. As an example of suffering and patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call those happy who were steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:7-8, 10-11

We pray God’s richest blessings for you and your family this Christmas. You remain in our prayers. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10).